Jan. 19, 2018, 11:35 a.m.

A customer test-sniffs the cannabis at the MedMen dispensary in West Hollywood this month. (Eugene Garcia /EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock)

A citizens panel that is helping to set rules for the marijuana industry in California has agreed to examine the impact of taxes that some growers and sellers have complained are too high.

The state Cannabis Advisory Committee, after lengthy debate, also decided Thursday to create a subcommittee to look into how legalized marijuana affects public health and young people.

Three weeks after the state began permitting medical and recreational marijuana firms, some 710 licenses have been issued by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control for distribution and sale, and 2,036 other applications are pending.

Jan. 17, 2018, 9:19 a.m.

Outside of Maywood’s first recreational marijuana dispensary, people stood in a long line that snaked along the building and into a parking lot, where it found the perfect prescription for a raging case of the munchies.

Jan. 16, 2018, 3:22 p.m.

California’s top law enforcement official and his counterparts in 18 states and territories say Congress must act to end the banking industry’s prohibition on serving the marijuana industry, calling the current state of affairs a public safety threat and a hindrance for law enforcement.

Jan. 12, 2018, 8:59 a.m.

“Don't ask, don't tell" is how many veterans have approached healthcare conversations about marijuana use with the doctors they see from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Worried that owning up to using the drug could jeopardize their VA benefits, even if they're participating in a medical marijuana program approved by their state, veterans have often kept mum. That may be changing under a new directive from the Veterans Health Administration urging vets and their physicians to open up on the subject.

The new guidance directs VA clinical staff and pharmacists to discuss with veterans how their use of medical marijuana could interact with other medications or aspects of their care, including treatment for pain management or post-traumatic stress disorder.

The mayors of 10 cities including Seattle, Long Beach and San Leandro have signed a letter urging U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions to reconsider his decision to roll back a federal policy that gave low priority to prosecution of marijuana offenses in states that legalized the use of the drug.

“Reversing course now is a misguided legal overreach and an attack on cities where legal, safe, and high regulated recreational sale and use occurs, and on the majority of states where the voters have made their voices heard loud and clear on this issue,” the letter said.

Instead, the federal government should focus on combating the opioid epidemic, according to the letter by mayors including Jenny A. Durkan of Seattle; Michael B. Hancock of Denver; Bill de Blasio of New York; Jim Kenney of Philadelphia; Ted Wheeler of Portland, Ore.; Robert Garcia of Long Beach; and Pauline Cutter of San Leandro.